Making Purpose Work in Practice
Reconnecting Your Work to What Matters (Part 2 of 2)
Last week, we talked about reconnecting with your academic purpose.
Too often, we frame success in purely productivity terms—how many articles have you published; how many presentations have you delivered; how many citations have you amassed. True success, however, requires remembering why you got into this work in the first place.
But here’s what I’ve also learned: identifying your purpose is only half the battle.
The real challenge isn’t knowing why your work matters. The challenge is maintaining an active connection between that purpose and your daily scholarly activities.
Whether you’re grading papers, responding to emails, revising manuscripts, or sitting through committee meetings, you have to find a way to stay rooted in purpose.
But it is easier said than done.
When Purpose Meets Practice
Let me share how this has worked in my own career.
My core intellectual purpose—understanding how law can promote economic and environmental justice—initially led me to focus on community economic development. But as my career progressed, I realized that the most significant impact I could have was in legal education itself.
The future lawyers I teach will apply legal principles in countless contexts that I will never be able to directly influence.
This insight shifted my research focus to include both pedagogical questions and interdisciplinary methodologies:
How do different teaching methods shape students’ understanding of legal reasoning?
How might cultural studies inspire a more culturally competent legal practice?
How can exposure to critical theory better prepare law school graduates for the challenges they’ll face as advocates and future scholars?
My social purpose remained constant—contributing to a more just legal system—but I realized I could achieve greater impact by crossing academic disciplines and influencing public conversations than by writing another article on legal doctrine that might be read by a few dozen specialists.
This alignment between purpose and practice has made my work more satisfying and, I believe, more effective.
My teaching feels more intentional because it connects directly to my research interests.
My scholarship feels more urgent because I see its direct application to social issues.
My service commitments make sense because they often involve community-oriented initiatives that serve my larger purpose.
The Performance Connection
One of the most surprising discoveries in my own academic journey has been how reconnecting with purpose actually improved my professional performance.
When I was operating primarily from external motivations—publishing to build my CV, networking to advance my career, presenting at conferences to gain recognition—my work felt draining.
I was productive, but it required constant willpower and self-discipline.
But when I realigned my activities with my deeper purpose, something shifted. The work itself became more energizing than exhausting. I found myself naturally drawn to opportunities that served my larger mission and avoiding commitments that didn’t align.
This experience is documented in psychology. When our activities align with our values, we experience what researchers call authentic engagement. We’re more creative, more persistent, more willing to take intellectual risks, and more resilient in the face of setbacks.
From a practical standpoint, maintaining connection to purpose isn’t just good for your mental health—it’s a performance strategy.
Decision-Making Through a Purpose Lens
The most practical application of purpose work is using it as a framework for academic decision-making. When you’re clear about your deeper motivations, choices become easier.
Here’s a framework that you can use:
1. The Purpose Filter
Before accepting any significant commitment—a collaboration, a service appointment, a speaking engagement—ask yourself three questions:
Intellectual Alignment: Does this opportunity advance my understanding of questions that genuinely fascinate me?
Social Impact: Will this contribute to outcomes I care about beyond my own career advancement?
Personal Integration: Does this align with how I want to spend my time and energy as a whole person?
Opportunities that score well on all three dimensions get serious consideration. Those that only meet one or two criteria require careful justification.
2. The Energy Audit
Every month, review your activities through a purpose lens:
Which projects are energizing you because they connect to your deeper motivations?
Which commitments are draining you because they’re purely obligation-driven?
Where are you experiencing the flow state that comes from aligned work?
What adjustments would better serve your purpose while maintaining professional responsibilities?
This isn’t about abandoning all obligations that don’t directly serve your mission. Academic life includes necessary tasks that may not be intrinsically meaningful.
It is about ensuring that the bulk of your discretionary time and creative energy goes toward purpose-aligned work.
3. The Legacy Question
Periodically, step back and ask:
If I continue on my current trajectory, what will my body of work represent?
What story will it tell about what I believed mattered?
This long-term perspective helps distinguish between activities that serve momentary goals (getting published, gaining recognition, meeting expectations) and those that contribute to the scholarly legacy we actually want to leave.
Teaching as Purpose Expression
For many academics, teaching provides the most direct connection between daily work and deeper purpose. Even if your research feels abstract or specialized, your classroom interaction with students offers immediate opportunities to make a difference.
I’ve found that when I approach teaching as an expression of my academic purpose rather than as an obligation separate from my scholarly work, both my satisfaction and my effectiveness increase dramatically.
This shift requires thinking strategically about how your teaching serves your larger mission.
If your purpose involves advancing social justice, how can your curriculum design and pedagogical choices reflect those values?
If you’re motivated by developing human potential, how can your mentoring and advising activities become central to rather than peripheral to your scholarly identity?
The key is refusing the false dichotomy between teaching and research that often characterizes academic life. When both activities serve an integrated purpose, they strengthen each other rather than competing for attention.
The Ripple Effect
One of the most surprising benefits of reconnecting with academic purpose has been its impact on areas of life I didn’t expect it to touch.
When my work feels meaningful, I’m more present with my family because I’m not constantly questioning whether I’m wasting my life.
When I’m clear about my priorities, I’m better at setting boundaries because I know what I’m protecting.
When my professional activities align with my values, I experience less of the internal conflict that used to leave me exhausted.
This integration doesn’t happen automatically.
It requires systematic work.
But when your clarified identity, strategic focus, efficient systems, and daily practices all serve a coherent purpose, the result is more than professional success.
It’s what the ancient Greeks called eudaimonia—a life well-lived in service of something larger than yourself.
This Week’s Homework
Here is your assignment for this week:
Phase 1: Impact Assessment
Describe the impact you want your scholarship to have in 10 years. Not career outcomes (promotion, recognition, status) but actual differences in the world.
What would success look like if you measured it purely by contribution rather than achievement?
Write this as if you’re looking back from 10 years in the future. Be specific.
What changed because of your work?
Phase 2: Current Alignment Audit
Review your current projects, commitments, and activities. Create three lists:
Energizing: Work that connects to your deeper purpose
Draining: Obligations disconnected from what you care about
Neutral: Necessary tasks that are neither inspiring nor depleting
What patterns do you notice? Where is most of your time going?
Phase 3: Integration Planning
Based on your reflections, identify three specific changes you could make to better align your academic practice with your deeper purpose.
These might involve:
Shifting research focus
Changing how you approach teaching
Making different choices about service and collaboration
Saying no to certain types of commitments
Seeking out new opportunities that better serve your mission
Make these concrete and actionable, not vague aspirations.
Questions to sit with:
How might your field be different if more scholars operated from their authentic sense of purpose?
What’s one opportunity you’re currently pursuing that doesn’t actually serve your deeper purpose? Why are you still pursuing it?
What’s one thing you’re not doing that would directly express your academic purpose? What’s stopping you?
The goal isn’t perfection.
You can’t make every activity perfectly align with your deepest motivations. But you can make deliberate choices about where you invest your energy and attention.
That’s what purpose-driven academic work looks like: a series of small, intentional adjustments that gradually bring your daily practice into closer alignment with what you actually care about.
The systems we’ve built—the academic digital profile, the focused research agenda, the strategic writing pipeline—they’re all tools in service of this larger goal.
Focus on reconnecting with the deeper mission that brought you to this work in the first place. They’re still there, waiting to energize your scholarship in ways that serve both your career and your soul.
Becoming Full,
P.S. As always, thank you for reading this week’s issue of The Tenure Track. If you found this article helpful, share it with a friend. If it moved you, consider supporting with a paid subscription or buying me a coffee. Together, let’s continue to build a supportive and creative academic community.
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